The state should keep records of drunken-driving violations, even if the affected driver is not convicted in criminal court, the North Dakota House has decided.

A proposal to expunge a DUI notice from the driving record of a first-time violator would weaken North Dakota's efforts to stem drunken driving and make it tougher to keep track of repeat offenders, said Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot.

Representatives voted 52-41 to defeat the legislation Wednesday. Supporters of the bill said they may try to have it reconsidered later.

"What many don't realize is that the administrative process and the court process are two different, unrelated proceedings," Ruby said. "We should not tie the two together and allow one proceeding to undermine the effectiveness of another."

North Dakota law includes two punishments for a drunken driver.

The state Department of Transportation may suspend the person's license as part of an administrative proceeding, although the driver may demand a hearing to challenge the agency's decision. The county prosecutor also may file criminal charges, which carry a possible jail sentence and fine.

The proceedings are separate, and the North Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that a motorist who goes through both is not being punished twice for the same crime. The U.S. and North Dakota constitutions prohibit double jeopardy.

The proposed legislation would have allowed a motorist to request that his or her DUI offense be expunged from Transportation Department records if the person had served the suspension, had no previous suspensions and was never convicted of an alcohol-related driving offense.

A motorist who refused to take a chemical test to determine his or her blood-alcohol level, or had a blood-alcohol level greater than 0.12 percent, would not have been eligible to request the records change. In North Dakota, a driver is considered under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent.

Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, said even a person who is acquitted of drunken driving will have the offense listed on his or her driving record for three years, which pushes up insurance rates and disqualifies the driver from certain jobs.

"If your insurance company says that person can't drive because it's on their record, it'll take three years before that person could drive your vehicles again," Porter said. "If their job is driving, they will lose their job."

Rep. Kathy Hawken, R-Fargo, said the measure was not intended to weaken the state's drunken-driving laws.

"It was put in to look at situations where people are considered guilty until they're proven innocent, which we don't believe is the way we do things in this country," Hawken said.

The bill is SB2254.